I was having a hard time posting a comment about this in a friend’s journal, so I decided to post it here instead. This is just venting about the message board at the Video Relay Services Consumer Association website. As far as I can tell, people who post over there feel exempt from the requirement to consider the needs of others as well as their own, and they don’t think it’s necessary to do any research before spouting.

There are many people on the board saying “save VRS and cut TTY” - don’t people realize that the majority of D/HH Americans do not use ASL? There are more than 25 million Americans with severe to profound hearing loss, and only about 1-2 million use ASL. All those other people are using text relay on either TTY or computers. I fully support keeping VRS - not just because I am a VI myself, but because Deaf people have a right to communicate in their first language - but if the FCC is looking to cut costs, as that website indicates, I would think they will cut the service used by a few people than the service used by a lot of people. I know I’ll get flamed for this, so I’ll repeat - VRS interpreting is my job. So I don’t want them to get rid of it, that would put me out of a job. But the people on that board are not thinking logically (needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few) or considering the needs of non-signing deaf Americans alongside their own needs as signers.

Another person said “if VRS terps are paid more than $40/hr then reduce their salary to $30/hr and don’t let it go above that.” This person apparently has no idea how VRS interpreters are paid, or even interpreters in general. I’m not sure they even realize how much actual work is involved in interpreting, how much training costs, how much experience is factored into the situation…sure, $30/hr interpreting beats working at the local burger joint for minimum wage, but it is not necessarily commensurate with what the job actually entails.

Let the flaming begin.